Lie

(Anglo-Saxon, licgan, to ʹbide or rest; but lie, to deceive, is the Anglo-Saxon verb leõg-an.)

“Lie heavy on him, earth, for he

Laid many a heavy load on thee

This is part of Dr. Evans’s epitaph on Sir John Vanbrugh, the comic poet, herald, and architect. The “heavy loads” referred to were Blenheim, Greenwich Hospital (which he finished), Castle Howard in Yorkshire, and other massive buildings. (1666–1726.)

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.